Happy Wednesday! Today I have a review of Paris Echo, a new release by Sebastian Faulks, now available via Henry Holt publishing!

My Thoughts:

Hannah is an American historian, and she’s studying World War II in Paris (sounds like something I’d love to do!). She harbors some resentment towards the City of Lights due to something in her past when she was younger.

Hannah meets Tariq, a Moroccan teenager, who sees Paris as a land of opportunity in stark contrast to his own he is fleeing. In need of a place to stay, he ends up boarding with Hannah. Both Hannah and Tariq are very much outsiders to the city.

Tariq begins to see Paris in a different, more complicated light, and at the same time, Hannah discovers something in her research that shakes her to her very core.

With themes of inequity and corruption versus dreams and seeking freedom, Paris Echo is a complex, beautifully-written, engaging novel of friendship and second chances. Hannah and Tariq form a bond that is healing for each of them. Hannah has to heal from her past, and Tariq has to heal for his future. The atmosphere is rich and absorbing, and the story is as well with its multiple layers.

Thank you to Henry Holt and Company for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis:

Here is Paris as you have never seen it before – a city in which every building seems to hold the echo of an unacknowledged past, the shadows of Vichy and Algeria.

American postdoctoral researcher Hannah and runaway Moroccan teenager Tariq have little in common, yet both are susceptible to the daylight ghosts of Paris. Hannah listens to the extraordinary witness of women who were present under the German Occupation; in her desire to understand their lives and through them her own, she finds a city bursting with clues and connections. Out in the migrant suburbs, Tariq is searching for a mother he barely knew. For him, in his innocence, each boulevard, Métro station and street corner is a source of surprise.

In this urgent and deeply moving novel, Faulks deals with questions of empire, grievance, and identity. With great originality and a dark humour, Paris Echo asks how much we really need to know if we are to live a valuable life.

Have you read Paris Echo, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR

Thanks, Steph! Yes, I am certain you’ll enjoy this. It’s just the kind of emotional, literary story we love. That’s it- we’ll get advanced degrees in history and do our research in Paris together! 😂 ♥️

Great review Jen! Sounds like an interesting story! Happy Hump Day my friend! I love your picture with the fall leaves. If you need more, we have a million on our lawn just waiting for someone to rake them up! Pretty orange and yellow ones!😁💕🍁🍁💕

Thanks, Sus! Aww, I want some yellow leaves- yes! They were missing from the pic! We had one sweetgum tree, and it didn’t make it and had to be cut down. I miss the leaves but not the gumballs! We have mostly oaks and thank goodness our neighbors have some ornamental maples around us. 😂 ♥️ We have a really bad leaf problem this time of year. It becomes a nightmare but we love these old oaks!

This seems like a really interesting one, I love books that deal with feelings of displacement. And Paris is a really complicated city, I only went there as a tourist but I’m still not sure if I liked it or not.

It’s beautifully-told, Carolina, and with palpable emotion. I’ve not read much like it before with the feelings about the city and the displacement. That’s a wonderful point about being uncertain about the city, and it being complicated. I’ve felt that way while traveling, but I haven’t been to Paris yet. For me, it was more Rome that wasn’t a good fit. But I loved every place we traveled to in Italy. Paris became a character in the book, and just like with human characters- it was a mix of good and bad.

I love it when the city is its own character in a story so I’m even more interested in this book now, because it always adds so much to the narrative. I’ve never been to Rome because I’m afraid of the extreme heat in the summer, even though I’m from a hot southern european country myself but it’s always harder to avoid the heat on holiday, so there’s never been a right time. I don’t know how I’d feel about it either, I feel like the places I’ve liked the most are the ones I knew the least about or had the murkiest expectations. I don’t think real life Paris has any hope of living up to the Paris that inhabits pretty much everyone’s imaginary.

I did enjoy this, although I felt he was maybe trying to do too much – I kinda wished he’d told a straight story of the Parisian women during the Occupation. He’s a wonderful writer though – glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks, FF! I think since it was my first book by him, I was extra impressed with his style of writing. I can definitely understand your point. He kept it very original though with the additional storylines. Do you have another book from him you’d recommend for me?

I suspect you’d love Birdsong, which was the book that made his name. It’s about WW1 – a mix of the soldiers in the trenches and a love story. The only other one I’ve read was Jeeves and the Wedding Bells – an excellent PG Wodehouse pastiche.

I’ve read and enjoyed this author before so did consider requesting this one but my books were a bit out of control and I was trying to behave! Of course I regret that now! It goes onto the wishlist for future note.
Lynn 😀

Wow, everything about this book appeals to me. I love the Paris setting and that it focuses on friendship and second chances, but has even more depth to it with all of those themes. I will definitely have to snag myself a copy of this book.